


The Mystery of the Unsolicited Postcards

by Trillsabells



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Postcards, Solve your own fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-19
Updated: 2013-04-19
Packaged: 2017-11-29 21:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/691454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trillsabells/pseuds/Trillsabells
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A couple of months ago I started to receive these strange postcards. No name, just my address (which I’ve pixellated out) and a coded message.<br/>The message was a story. Try and decode the postcard to see what it says.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First postcard

A transcript in case you can't read it:  
  
Ol hstvza tpzzlk aol mpyza vul.  
  
Ol ohk kvul aopunz pu opz spml aoha vaolyz dvbsk jvuzpkly ohyk huk ol ohk kvul aolt dpaovba aopurpun; ahrlu h spml, zhclk h spml, olsk zalhkf bukly lultf mpyl. Aolf dlyl hss wofzpjhssf ohyk. Ylabyupun av Ihrly Zaylla dhz ltvapvuhssf aol ohyklza aopun ol ohk lcly kvul.  
  
Aol msha dhz hstvza hz ol yltltilylk pa, vusf apkply huk zvtlovd ltwaply.  
  
Ol zavvk mvy h svun tvtlua, buhisl av tvcl, uva dhuapun av zpa. Pu aol luk aol wyhjapjhs zpkl vm opt rpjrlk pu huk ol ovulk pu vu aol wpsl vm wvza vu aol ahisl. Pa dhz tvzasf qbur thps, pualyzwhjlk dpao aol vkk ipss huk doha hwwlhylk av il 'mhu' thps, lpaoly wvzpapcl vy ulnhapcl. Ol tljohupjhssf zvyalk aolt puav aoyll wpslz, hstvza tpzzpun aol wvzajhyk, ulzaslk hz pa dhz iladllu h msply mvy wpggh huk aol lsljaypjpaf ipss. Pa dhz aol zdhu aoha jhbnoa opz lfl huk myvdupun ol abyulk pa vcly. Pa dhz ishur. Aol vusf dypapun dhz aol hkkylzz; 221I Ihrly Zaylla, UD1 8EL. Jvsjolzaly aol myvua zhpk aol ihjr uvaopun.  
  
Ol zbwwvzlk pa zovbsk tlhu zvtlaopun, iba ol dhzu'a aol klaljapcl. Ol dhzu'a hufaopun huftvyl. Jslujopun opz qhd, ol wba pa kvdu huk ylabyulk av aol wvza. Ol dvbsk klhs dpao pa shaly, ol kljpklk. Dolulcly aoha dvbsk il!


	2. The First Solution

He almost missed the first one.

He had done things in his life that others would consider hard and he had done them without thinking; taken a life, saved a life, held steady under enemy fire. They were all physically hard. Returning to Baker Street was emotionally the hardest thing he had ever done.

The flat was almost as he remembered it, only tidier and somehow emptier.

He stood for a long moment, unable to move, not wanting to sit. In the end the practical side of him kicked in and he honed in on the pile of post on the table. It was mostly junk mail, interspaced with the odd bill and what appeared to be 'fan' mail, either positive or negative. He mechanically sorted them into three piles, almost missing the postcard, nestled as it was between a flier for pizza and the electricity bill. It was the swan that caught his eye and frowning he turned it over. It was blank. The only writing was the address; 221B Baker Street, NW1 8XE. Colchester the front said the back nothing.

He supposed it should mean something, but he wasn't the detective. He wasn't anything anymore. Clenching his jaw, he put it down and returned to the post. He would deal with it later, he decided. Whenever that would be!


	3. The Second Postcard

Transcript:  
“2085 215425 156 1 13114 61521144 19924 412519 1715 914 3211321891 8119 25514  
945142096954 119 208120 156 914205181412091514112 2051818151891920 22121491912122  
221512111522, 1318 221512111522, 231142054 914 1522518 1 41526514 315211420189519, 919  
2512952254 2015 81225 25514 4514 61518 2116 2015 202315 23551119 25615185 8919 215425  
23119 49193152251854. 2085 161512935 1185 201851209147 2085 451208 119  
19211916939152119.”

1923920389147 1566 2085 2022 85 1215151154 4152314 120 2085 9141415351420 121515119147  
1615192031184 208120 814 1181892254 1514 8919 415151813120 20514 412519 5118129518.  
129115 2085 16185229152119 15145 920 2311921211411 11611820 6181513 2085 1441851919,  
141520 522514 8919 141135 814 25514 91431221454, 22120 920 23119 152229152119 208120 920  
23119 13511420 61518 8913.

“1211441931165 156 2085 121115 491920189320.”

31217820 2116 914 2085 566151820 156 7520209147 8919 12965 21311 1514 20181311 85 814  
11212 22120 615187152020514 12152120 2085 69181920 1615192031545, 491913919199147 920  
119 1 815124 1518 161811411, 22120 141523… 920 23119 19211616151954 2015 135114  
19151352089147, 2311914’20 920? 23119 208919 15145 129141154 2015 2085 52251420 914 2085  
1452319, 1518 23119 208120 1 135185 31591439451435? 1985181215311 1618152121225  
231521124 81225 1114152314. 85 231521124 81225 20111514 15145 71211435 120 2085  
8114423189209147 1144 18551254 1566 1 41526514 454213209151419 12152120 2085  
195144518, 22120 85 2311914’20

1985181215311 1144 5138 156 8919 152314 208515189519 19551354 119  
1618516151920518152119 119 2085 1452420.

189199147 2015 8919 65520, 85 494 238120 85 1981521124 81225 415145 2085 69181920 209135,  
1144 41815161654 2085 1615192031184 914 2085 2914.


	4. The Second Solution

“The body of a man found six days ago in Cumbria has been identified as that of international terrorist Vladislav Volkov. Mr Volkov, wanted in over a dozen countries, is believed to have been dead for up to two weeks before his body was discovered. The police are treating the death as suspicious.”

Switching off the TV he looked down at the innocent looking postcard that had arrived on his doormat ten days earlier. Like the previous one it was blank apart from the address, not even his name had been included, but it was obvious that it was meant for him.

Landscape of the Lake District.

Caught up in the effort of getting his life back on track he had all but forgotten about the first postcode, dismissing it as a hoax or prank, but now… it was supposed to mean something, wasn't it? Was this one linked to the event in the news, or was that a mere coincidence? Sherlock probably would have known he would have taken one glance at the handwriting and reeled off a dozen deductions about the sender but he wasn't Sherlock and each of his own theories seemed as preposterous as the next. Rising to his feet he did what he should have done the first time, and dropped the postcard in the bin.


	5. The Third Postcard

Transcript:  
Shrlck hs nc tld hm tht n y’v rld t th mpssbl, whtvr rmns, hwvr mprbbly, mst b tr. Trth, h hd ls hrd, ws ftn strngr thn fctn.

Th trth f th mttr, s h sw t, ws tht thr blnk pstcrds wsn’t n ccdnt. t hd mnng. t ws _ mssg – bvsly! – bt n tht md hm cnsdr th frmrly mpssbl t b nw mrly mprbbl. nd tht ws dngrs.

Shrlck Hlms ws dd. H hd jmpd frm _ rf, flln nd thn shrply stppd. Dd. Dd mn ddn’t snd blnk pstcrds frm… h trnd th pstcrd vr gn, smwhr n Crsc? Yt smn ws sndng thm nd t bvsly hd smthng t d wth Shrlck, vn f t wsn’t Shrlck sndng thm.

Thr pstcrds, thr dffrnt plcs, ll blnk nd ll ddrssd t hm. Fldng hs fngrs tgthr h strd t th pstcrds; tw frm Brtn, n nt. n slghtly crsd frm whr t hs bn n th bn bfr h hd fshd t t. H hd kpt thm, bcs smtms y ndd th hp tht th mpssbl ws mrly th mprbbl.

H’s skd fr _ mrcl. Ws ths t? r ws h mrly sttng hmslf p fr nthr fll?

Mnd md p, h pnd hs lptp nd srchd fr vrythng h cld fnd n Bst.


	6. The Third Solution

Sherlock has once told him that once you’ve ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbably, must be true. Truth, he had also heard, was often stranger than fiction.

The truth of the matter, as he saw it, was that three blank postcards wasn’t an accident. It had meaning. It was a message – obviously! – but one that made him consider the formerly impossible to be now merely improbable. And that was dangerous.

Sherlock Holmes was dead. He had jumped from a roof, fallen and then sharply stopped. Dead. Dead men didn’t send blank postcards from… he turned the postcard over again, somewhere in Corsica? Yet someone was sending them and it obviously had something to do with Sherlock, even if it wasn’t Sherlock sending them.

Three postcards, three different places, all blank and all addressed to him. Folding his fingers together he stared at the postcards; two from Britain, one not. One slightly creased from where it has been in the bin before he had fished it out. He had kept them, because sometimes you needed the hope that the impossible was merely the improbable.

He’d asked for a miracle. Was this it? Or was he merely setting himself up for another fall?

Mind made up, he opened his laptop and searched for everything he could find on Bastia.


	7. The Fourth Postcard

  
Transcript:

Α δεαδ τερροριστ ιν χυμβρα, α ωαρεηουσε φιρε ιν Βαστια, νοω τηε αρρεστ οφ α ηυμαν τραφφιcκινγ ρινγ ιν Εσσαοθιρα. ηε ηαδν'τ υετ φιγθρεδ ουτ ωηατ ηαδ ηαππενεδ ιν χολχηεστερ, βθτ τηερε ωασ νο λονγερ ανυ δοθβτ ιν ηισ μινδ τηατ αλλ οφ τηεσε εvεντσ ωερε λινκεδ. Σομεονε ωαντεδ το δραω ηισ αττεντιον το σπεΧιφιΧ ινΧισεντσ. Σομεονε ωαντεδ ηιμ το κνοω. 

Βυ τηε τιμε τηε μοστ ρεχεντ ποστcαρδ αρριvεδ, ηε ηαδ ενουγη οφ αν ιδεα οφ ωηατ το Γοογλε φορ. Ιτ ονλυ τοοκ α φεω μομεντσ, αλμοστ ασ ιφ τηε ποστχαρδ ωερε αχτινγ ασ α τραιλ φορ ηιμ το φολλοω, λικε βρεαδ χρθμβσ ιν α φορεστ.

Μοριαρτψ.

Ιτ ωασ στυπιδ τηατ ηε ηαδν'τ ρεαλισεδ εαρλιερ. Νο δοθβτ, ηαδ ηε βεεν τηερε, Σηερλοχκ ωοθλδ'vε cαλλεδ ηιμ αν ιδιοτ φορ βεινγ σο σλοω, τηατ ιτ ωασ οβvιυσ, Βθτ ηε ωασν'τ Σηερλοχκ Ηολμεσ - νο ονε ωασ ανψμορε - σο ηε ωουλδ ηαvε το δο, σλοωνεσσ ανδ αλλ.

Φορ τηε φιρστ τιμε ιν μοντησ ηε φουνδ ηιμσελφ ενγαγινγ ονχε μορε ωιτη τηε ρεστ οφ τηε ωορλδ. Εωεν ιφ ιτ ωασ ονλψ βριεφλυ, ηε νοω ηαδ σομετηινγ το οχχθπυ ηιμ, σομετηινγ το αυτιχιπατε, το φοχυσ ον. Ηε ρεαδ τηε νεωσπαπερσ αγαιν, ηε σεαρcηεδ τηε ιντερνετ, ηε λιστενεδ το νεωσ, ανδ ηε ταλκεδ το πεοπλε.

Φορ τηε φιρστ τιμε ιν μοντησ, εαχη νεω δαυ διδν'τ φεελ σο βαδ.


	8. The Fourth Solution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that I am actually receiving these postcards, not writing them. I have to decode them first and sometimes I make mistakes. If your solution doesn't match up with mine please leave a comment.

A dead terrorist in Cumbria, a warehouse fire in Bastia, now the arrest of a human trafficking ring in Essaouira. He hadn't yet figured out what had happened in Colchester, but there was no longer any doubt in his mind that all of these events were linked. Someone wanted him to know.

By the time the most recent postcard arrived, he had enough of an idea of what to Google for. It only took a few moments, almost as if the postcard were acting as a trail for him to follow, like bread crumbs in a forest.

Moriarty.

It was stupid that he hadn't realised earlier. No doubt, had he been there, Sherlock would've called him an idiot for being so slow, that it was obvious. But he wasn't Sherlock Holmes - no one was anymore - so he would have to do, slowness and all.

For the first time in months he found himself engaging once more with the rest of the world. Even if it was only briefly, he now had something to occupy him, something to anticipate, to focus on. He read the newspapers again, he searched the internet, he listened to news, and he talked to people.

For the first time in months, each new day didn't feel so bad.


End file.
